Blind Bargains Qast 151: A T Guys Convention Showcase

Fireworks, hot dogs and devices with synthetic speech? Yep, summer brings all those things and more. Especially if you are traveling to one of the many summer conventions. This week we will focus on some of the new products we have over at the A T Guys
site. We have some news, a tip and a cool refreshing summer themed Last Word". So fire up the grill and put this on in the background as you have BBQ with the BBQ Crew!

Sponsor: Aira

Aira is a service which connects a low vision or blind user with a highly trained live agent to provide real time access to any visual information, when and where it is needed.

Joe sat down with Greg Stilson, Director of Product Development, to talk about the Smart Cities concept and how that will play into the summer conventions. The pair also discussed the new VFO announcement, the $50 plan being offered to convention attendees and an amazing new feature coming to the AIRA app.

Energrid Accessible Power Bank And Charger
Presenting a powerful and accessible portable charger we think you'll love. The battery level is indicated by tones or vibrations so you'll know how much charge is left. With two fast charging ports, you can power multiple devices simultaneously. At 15,000 MAH, it will give you several charges for most devices and is more than twice as powerful as our previous model. Carrying case and USB cable included.

Aftershokz Open-ear Headphones
Featuring bone conduction technology, allowing you to hear your surroundings as well as your headphones at the same time. These headphones are available in both wireless Bluetooth (Bluez) and wired models.

Note: This item is available in person at the summer conventions and will reach our warehouse in the next 1-2 weeks.

A compact, wireless, Bluetooth, speaker that does it all. The smaller brother to the E5, the E2 features Wi-Fi support including radio presets, Amazon Alexa, Airplay support, and so much more.

The E2 is a compact speaker which boasts a lot of features. Read on to learn what E2 can do.

The E2 is a WiFi/Bluetooth speaker that integrates with Amazon Alexa Voice Service. Just tap the speaker to ask Alexa a question, Such as "What's the weather today?" With Alexa Voice service you can order Dominos Pizza, call a Uber, control your smart home devices, add items to your Amazon shopping cart, or play Amazon Prime Music. Note that Spotify and Pandora are current

Micro-Speak Plus 8GB Talking Digital Voice Recorder
Now with twice the storage. Micro-Speak Plus is a brand new digital voice recorder that combines smart design with ease of use and high quality performance. Micro-Speak Plus is packed with useful features including specifically designed software that provides spoken prompts and beeps to assist blind and low-vision users
Record with the press of a button and playback immediately via the built-in speaker. High Definition recordings in uncompressed WAV format ensure impressive results for unlimited speaking and listening activities.

Navigate The World around You And that latest Best Seller with One Consistent Physical Experience!

Today people everywhere consume content while traveling, but for someone who is blind or visually impaired physical keys plus a consistent user experience is so much more important while navigating outside with one hand already occupied by a cane or dog guide.

The VictorReader Trek combines the world renowned simple book reading and media playback experience of the VictorReader Stream with the navigation guidance technology found in the Trekker Breeze.

Tactile Screen Protectors
A T Guys is pleased to partner with SpeedDots, manufacturing and distributing tactile screen protectors for use with Apple mobile devices including the iPhone 5, 4, 4S, and 3GS, iPod Touch 4th and 5th generations, the iPad Mini, and the iPad 2nd generation and newer. Our custom screen overlays provide guidance and facilitate navigation of touchscreen devices by placing a single, raised dot over commonly-used letters and controls, making it easier than ever before for blind and visually impaired individuals using the Voiceover screenreader to both orient, as well as input text and access screen controls quickly and efficiently. Our standard overlay contains a dot on each letter and input control while our advanced overlay contains similar markings on buttons and input controls, however only the letters F and J on the virtual keyboard will contain raised dots. A Phone layout which includes marks on the phone numbers is also available for the iPhone 5. Please select your device to see the available protectors. Note there is only one model of screen protector available for the iPad. Order more than one and save on shipping.

Switch HomeKit/Alexa/Google Home Connected Plug for iOS
Customize your home so that it's always just the way you like it with the iDevices Switch, a HomeKit enabled plug. The iDevices Switch lets you control devices such as speakers, lamps, coffee pots, and air conditioners from across the room, or across your house. Use Siri or the free iDevices App to turn devices on or off. Use the app to monitor energy usage and save on electricity.

The above is just a taste of the products we will have on hand at the summer shows. And there is so much more to be found by visiting A.T. Guys on the web

or see us at NFB's Exhibit Hall in booth A23. Sales prices mentioned are good until July 10th 2018.

Tip: Google Home Continuous Conversation

Google Home is powerful, fun and awesome. But saying the trigger phrase repeatedly can be a real nuisance. Now, thanks to the rollout of Continuous Conversation, you can have the Home s microphone stay open 8 seconds for the next request without you having to say Hey or Ok again. There are some steps to follow and then you are set to have a dialogue with your Google Assistant.

Sound Off:

Jan Brown sent this along since we featured these devices in a previous podcast.

recalling all smart pots

Sent from my iPhone

We were looking for something on Amazon and learned that all instant pots manufactured before 2015 have been recalled because they can catch fire. They are no longer available on Amazon. They say they are making corrections but

We'll switch to Convention Mode" for the next couple of weeks. That means our feed will be filling up with audio from both St. Louis and Orlando. Then, as we are known to do, we'll be back with the Convention Wrap Up show later in July.

Joe Steinkamp is no stranger to the world of technology, having been a user of video magnification and blindness related electronic devices since 1979. Joe has worked in radio, retail management and Vocational Rehabilitation for blind and low vision individuals in Texas. He has been writing about the A.T. Industry for10 years and podcasting about it for nearly 5 years.